1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a programmable control apparatus which includes a programming unit, an absolute position transducer for rapidly determining the absolute position of a machine to which the transducer is coupled and at least one control device which provides programmable switch outputs to the machine being controlled to cause starting or stopping of desired functions during each machine cycle such as one complete revolution of the machine shaft.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore various programmable control apparatus including an absolute position transducer have been proposed. Often such apparatus required mental calculations by the user to establish desired functions and could only be utilized to a limited number of setpoints.
Often such apparatus required extensive idle machine time due to the time required for the apparatus to have control parameters entered or altered.
Typically in a prior art apparatus a serial requested operation is performed where an encoder is read, and the signal therefrom is then multiplied by a scale factor and compared with a setpoint. Then, an output is turned on and latched resulting in limited speed of response.
As will be described in greater detail hereinafter, the programmable control apparatus of the present invention differs from the previously proposed control apparatus, programmable controllers and programmable limit switches by providing an apparatus whose only limitation in the number of programmable setpoints is the user's desired resolution and the absolute position transducer's resolution. Further, the apparatus of the present invention provides for a large number of control output channels whose response to a change of position of the input shaft is one or two orders of magnitude faster than that obtained with presently available programmable control apparatus or programmable limit switches. Moreover, the programmable control apparatus of the present invention can eliminate mental calculations on the part of the user and can also provide combined output and setpoint programmable modules which retain their programmed information for up to ten years with no power applied.